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26 J. Corp. L. 97 (2000-2001)
Venture Capital and Corporate Governance: Evolving the Limited Liability Company to Finance the Entrepreneurial Business

handle is hein.journals/jcorl26 and id is 107 raw text is: Venture Capital and Corporate Governance: Evolving
the Limited Liability Company to
Finance the Entrepreneurial Business
J. William Callison*
I.  IN TRO DUCTION  ........................................................................................................... 98
II. THE RISE OF THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY FORM AND THE
NEUTRALIZATION OF TAX AND LIABILITY DISTINCTIONS AMONG BUSINESS
O RGAN  IZATIONS  ....................................................................................................... 102
III. GOVERNANCE ISSUES AND THE LACK OF ROLE DIFFERENTIATION IN LIMITED
LIABILITY  COM   PANIES  ............................................................................................. 104
A .  Introduction  ....................................................................................................... 104
B.  Forms  ofLLC   M  anagem  ent ............................................................................... 106
C. Raising Equity Capital in Member-Managed LLCs-The Problem of a
Failure to Separate Ownership and Control ...................................................... 108
D. Raising Equity Capital in Manager-Managed LLCs-The Problem of a
Failure to Separate Decision Management from Decision Control .................. 111
IV. POSSIBLE ADVANTAGES TO THE LLC FORM ............................................................. 114
A.  Broad  Freedom   of  Contract ............................................................................... 114
B .  D issenters 'R ights  .............................................................................................. 115
C. Flexibility With Respect to Organizational Formalities ..................................... 115
D .  F iduciary  D uties ................................................................................................. 115
V. REPLICATING CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS IN LIMITED LIABILITY
C OM PANY   FORM    ...................................................................................................... 116
A. Contracting for Corporate Governance Structures ........................................... 116
B. State LLC Statutes Providing for Board Monitoring ......................................... 116
C. Modifications to ULLCA and State LLC Statutes to Embrace a Board-
D irected  M anagement Structure ........................................................................ 118
1.  Foreign  Law  Equivalents ............................................................................... 119
a. German Gesellschaft mit beschrdnkter Haftung ....................................... 119
b. French Socit6 i Responsabilit6 Limit6 ................................................... 120
c.  Brazilian  Lim itadas  .................................................................................. 121
d.  Sum m ary  ................................................................................................... 122
* Partner, Faegre & Benson LLP; A.B. Oberlin College, 1977; J.D., University of Colorado, 1982; LL.M. Yale
University, 2000. I would like to thank Deborah DeMott, Dennis Hynes, Bob Keatinge, Dan Kleinberger,
Andrzej Rapaczynski, Maureen Sullivan, Allan Vestal, and the participants in the Yale Law School Graduate
Seminar for their helpful thoughts and comments.

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